Tagged: dark universe

I have always been fascinated by the Marvel Comics character ‘Morbius: The Living Vampire’ and now it seems this weirdly obscure oddball will be indeed be brought to life onscreen with Jared Leto in the role. Hmmm….I’ve never been a real big fan of Leto and his recent portrayal of The Joker has further cemented that opinion in my mind. Leto was pretty cool in Bladerunner: 2049 which was in my opinion just an excellent sequel altogether and maybe his portrayal of The Joker has really unfairly tainted him as an actor in my mind. However…

This new Morbius movie will be a Sony Spider-man spin-off movie set in their “Dark Universe”, the same one that the upcoming ‘Venom’ movie takes place in. I’m not quite sure what to think of that yet either as the Sony stuff has been altogether pretty sub par thus far. Whatever the case I’m hoping that perhaps this new line of dark Marvel movies will be a the start of something really unique and perhaps could even lead to a Blade sequel starring Wesley Snipes (who’d likely pass the torch to a younger character). That’s a long shot I know…Still somehow I just can’t wipe this image out of my mind:

It sounds so far like Leto will be playing the scientist Michael Morbius, who while trying to find a cure for a rare blood disease, accidentally transforms himself into a freaky ass living vampire. Though disgusted by his own bloodthirst, he chooses to prey upon vile criminals he deems unworthy of life. Kinda like if ‘Dexter’ was vampire type of thing going on. I hope they at the very least give Morbius some version of his classic costume and maybe even have him crossover into a Venom movie. I guess the more I look at Leto the more I can see how he might actually look pretty good as the character. I’d love for them not to skimp on the horror aspect of Morbius’ appearance either, don’t try and make him some sexy bloodsucker, let’s face it they blew it trying to make Leto’s Joker be some super ripped, tatted up, Faygo drinkin’, wise ass Juggalo. With Mobius, give him some creepy prosthetics and make him a freaky anti-hero playing up his dark roots.

I’m pretty intrigued by this idea of bring the creepy cult creature to the big screen and I’m willing to keep an open mind about Leto being cast as well. Sony, somehow similar to DC, seems to mess up their movies, the bar is set low for a character this obscure to Marvel fans so perhaps they can make this C-List character an A-Lister. Please can we just take a break from the sexy vampire trope though while doing so? Oh and please don’t make this character feel like he’s heading off to an Insane Clown Posse concert? Please?!

Bernie Wrightson is the king of the macabre and Swamp Thing was the perfect comic book for him to display his talent of drawing all things that go bump in the night. If you have a monster that needs drawing Bernie is most definitely your man for the job! Here’s an incredible full cover featuring the Swamp Thing going head on with some dark creatures of the night way back in 1977. This is really a perfect example of why Bernie is one of the greatest comic book illustrators ever.

Hopefully cinematic DC will take notes here when they begin ‘Dark Universe” with Doug Liman attached to direct. While most of the details are being kept under wraps, the plot revolves around a darker Justice League team that consists of John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna and Etrigan the Demon. Hopefully DC won’t mess this up too. I won’t hold my breath but I’ve got to say I’m terribly disappointed that Guillermo del Toro is no longer attached to direct. But I mean really, how bad could they mess it up?! Hmmm…..